The Art of Good Vibrations

The art of good vibrations is a mixed method of study that will bring you really enjoyable results. We all know that how and where we focus our attention and intention creates much of the mood-scape that we live within.

It is obvious to me that I can sometimes get stuck in a negative mind-set. So here is a simple question for you, and for me:

Do you want to feel happy, or do you want to feel not-happy?

The answer helps us to figure out which direction we want to be going towards.

The question is important to ask, especially when we are spiralling down into the yucky horror of black thoughts and dark moods.

It is a simple fact of modern science that we can positively change our mood, and thereby transform the way we react to incoming impressions. IF we take the time to clean out the mental filters we use to process information, we have a good head start over the primitive centers of our brain.

Let me explain a bit more:

We all have a brain, right?

In our brain there is a physically small part called the amygdala. Consider this to be your reptile-stump brain. It operates very quickly, and has a BIG effect on what you think and feel. It does not know about past, present or future. It is all about fight, flight or freeze.

The next bit of the brain that includes the amygdala is the limbic system. The limbic system deals with:

• spatial memory
• heart rate
• blood pressure
• long term memory
• smell (olfactory functions)
• fear
• pleasure
• processing new memories
• intentional movements (go on, raise your hand)

This is a partial list and indicates how this very old part of our brain can quickly get us into trouble. We can get ‘triggered’ to react based on our immediate survival instinct.

The old-brain is intimately concerned with running every incoming sensory impression through the following set of questions:

1. Can I eat it?
2. Can it eat me?
3. Can I dominate it?
4. Can it dominate me?
5. Can I mate with it?
6. Can it mate with me?
7. Can I kill it?
8. Can it kill me?

These questions are being asked 24/7, 365 days a year, no holidays. This survival instinct is at work, often in the background, and usually we are not aware of it’s presence.

Now we come to the   frontal  lobes of the brain. This is the major part of the brain we are going to use in our simple, mental exercise program.

Here is a sample list of what the  frontal  lobes are up to:

• executive functions;
• considers future consequences;
• attention span;
• inhibition;
• judgement;
• makes choices over-riding socially unacceptable behaviours;
• determines similarities and differences between people, places and things;
• helps to distinguish relationship between memory and emotion;

By consciously engaging the  frontal  lobes of the brain, you are going to influence the highly reactive survival instinct. The result is you are going to change your moodscape. And here is how you are going to do it:

• The next time you get angry, mad, sad, anxious, tense, freaked-out;
• When you become consciously aware that you are spiralling into the not-happy frame of reference;
• Ask yourself what it is that is going on that you are NOT enjoying;
• Answer this question as clearly and succinctly as possible;
• Use the answer to ask yourself, “What is it, now, that I do want to feel?”

As soon as you begin to use the cognitive part of your brain that is reflective and thoughtful, the faster you short-circuit the fight-flight-freeze reflex.

Here is how you do this in the real-world, right-now:

• Let the noise in your head go by;
• Be aware of the thoughts crashing through;
• Do NOT try and stop thinking the thoughts, NOT YET;
• Just be aware of the thoughts;
• Take a few moments to experience being aware of your thoughts;

This brief and important few moments of actually being present with the activity of your thoughts and feelings gives you the opportunity to do this next part:

1. Now, as the thoughts flow, zoom, or crash by, insert one thought of your own choosing.
2. Make sure you insert a thought that you actually want to have in your awareness.
3. Choose a thought that is positive. Keep it very simple. State something in the present moment.
4. Insert this thought and let it go.
5. Get ready to create the next thought of your own choosing.
6. Insert this next thought, and let it go.

This gives you the power to take back the thoughts you think. It puts you in the driver’s seat of your mind. You can begin to think thoughts on purpose, NOT just because your brain is held captive by mental habits of worry, anger, fear, hatred, anxiety, sadness, jealousy and so on.

Here are some examples of on-purpose thought over-rides that you can insert into your very powerful mind:

• I can think new thoughts now;
• I am thinking new thoughts right now;
• I can whistle right now;
• I am thinking right now;
• I am able to insert this thought right now;
• I can make a different choice right now;
• I am okay;
• I can do this;

This is a beginning. You can create more assertive and positive thought constructs, too. You can begin by stating how you want to be feeling:

• I want to feel good;
• I want to feel happy;
• I want to feel peace;
• I want to feel joy;

Those are a few examples. They are very simple statements. You can create similar thoughts and think these self-made, little ideas. Here are some closing tips:

1. Think a new thought and watch it go;
2. Let the next wave of thoughts that rise up come by, too;
3. Observe as a witness these thoughts;
4. Now, come up with the next, new thought;
5. Insert the new thought;
6. Repeat the process;

Being a witness to your own thoughts is very intriguing, and so is the idea that you can deliberately encourage a “good vibration.”

Take it as it comes, and enjoy the ride!

By Robert Farmilo